NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday announced that it will not attend the Ram Mandir inauguration in Ayodhya on January 22. The grand old party called the grand temple inauguration a BJP-RSS event. “Religion is a personal matter but the RSS and the BJP have made Ayodhya temple a political project,” the party said in a statement.
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The Congress alleged that the inauguration of incomplete temple in Ayodhya by leaders of the BJP, RSS was obviously brought forward for electoral gains. “While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what it clearly an RSS/BJP event,” reads the statement released by the Congress.
Several Congress leaders have accused the BJP of politicising the religious event in a bid to take credit for the inauguration of the Ram Temple. With the BJP going going all out to make the Ram Mandir inauguration a memorable event, most of the opposition parties have been caught in a Catch-22 situation over participating in the ceremony. With the Lok Sabha elections months away, if they don’t attend they fear being labelled anti-Sanatan and if they do attend they fear playing into the BJP’s hands.
The CPM has already announced that it will not attend the ceremony, accusing the BJP of politicising a religious event. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of using Mandir inauguration as a gimmick ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
‘They will regret if they don’t go’
The BJP leaders reacted sharply to the Congress decision of skipping the Ram Temple inauguration.
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said: “They are stuck in their rhetoric. Why take them seriously? They will regret it if they don’t go.”
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BJP MP Manoj Tiwari also slammed the Congress. “How will they go for the darshan? Isn’t it true that Congress fielded senior advocates to ensure that the Ram Temple is not constructed there? They called Lord Ram, a fictional character. They rejected Ram Setu. This has been their mindset from the beginning. I don’t think their thinking is going to change. Lord Ram belongs not only to the BJP and the RSS but to every individual. If Congress feels Lord Ram is not theirs, it is their problem,” Tiwari said.
